EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

Well it’s that time again to catch up on the latest background screening highlights from our blog and EmployeeScreen University.  Welcome to This Week in Background Checks (TWIB).  Let’s jump right in.

States Contemplate Early Release for Prisoners to Ease Spending- How this trend can have an impact on your background screening program.

Chester Ludow Earns His Master’s Degree- Should we be concerned that Chester is a dog?

Substandard Background Checks in Schools- Just what is a “fantastic” background check?  With the latest incident occurring in my own back yard, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to rant.

EmployeeScreenIQ Recognized as one of NE Ohio’s Fastest Growing Companies- Ouch!  Our arms are sore from patting ourselves on the back.

Podcast!!! E-Verify Mandate Finally in Place for Federal Contractors- No, the bad place down south has not frozen over and donkey’s are not flying!

Credit Scores and Background Checks- Why these things do not go together like peas and carrots.

Yale University Student Murdered- This is clearly a workplace violence issue.  Could a background check have prevented this?

For lowlights of these highlights, be sure to check out our podcast below.

As always, we’ll try to do better next time.

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It’s that time again for EmployeeScreenIQ’s TWIB Notes (This Week in Background Checks), where we review the top background screening stories covered on the IQ Blog and EmployeeScreen University. So in case you weren’t paying attention over the last couple weeks, here’s what you missed.

SHRM 2009 Podcasts- We needed to find something to entertain us at this year’s Annual SHRM Conference.  Check out some of our interviews, which we hope will entertain you, including:

• China Gorman, Chief Operating Officer at SHRM- Learn about SHRM’s plans for the coming year as well as their commitment to social networking
• Michael Layman, Manager Labor & Employment at SHRM- Great insight into a variety of legislative issues affecting HR Professionals from E-Verify to the Employee Free Choice Act
• Amanda Ellis, Business Development Executive at iCIMS- Discover why this talent management platform continues to thrive in a down economy
• And many more

Legislative Updates

• DHS Strengthens Administration’s Commitment to E-Verify (7/8/2009) – Is the government finally prepared to enforce this federal mandate? After countless delays, I’m not holding my breath.
• Congress Threatens to Ban Credit Reports- Have our legislators really considered the ramifications of this legislation? I’m going to say “NO!”

EmployeeScreen University

• EmployeeScreenIQ’s Annual List of Background Screening Trends- Hiring Controversies, Social Networking and Falsified Resumes top this year’s list
• EmployeeScreenIQ Launches Redesigned Website- Look who’s getting a makeover!
• The Verifier XVIII- Our quarterly newsletter

For lowlights of these highlights, be sure to check out our podcast of This Week in Background Checks 7/20/2009.

As always, we’ll try to do better next time.

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Welcome back to our TWIB Notes.  We covered an awful lot of material on employeescreen University and our Blog since our last podcast, so let’s jump right in to some of the top stories covered.

employeescreen University Guest Articles:

• Workplace Violence Prevention: Assessing the Risk to Your Business by Barry Nixon, Executive Director at the National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence
• Take It Outside: The Benefits of Workforce Management by Anthony Petraco, President & CEO at Valiant Solution, Inc.
• Why Employers Should Reconsider Facebook Fishing by Jackie Ford, Labor and Employment Attorney at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease

Legislative Updates

• Hawaii House Bill 31 Threatens Use of Credit Reports
• Connecticut House Bill 5521 Threatens Us of Credit Reports
• Town of New Haven, CT removes “The Box”
• New Mexico House Bill 103 Threatens to Remove Personal Identifier from Court Records

Blog Posts

• California Hospital Hires Rapist through Outside Contractor
• Can employment at disgraced financial institution hurt job seekers?
• Are Negative Employment Reference Recommended?

For those of you brave enough to listen to the podcast version of this update, happy listening!  As my favorite sports writer, Tony Kornheiser likes to say, “We’ll try to do better next time.”

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Time for our final TWIB Notes installment for 2008.  We thought we would ring in the new year by revisiting both highlights and low-lights from the world of background checks as we report them on this blog and on employeescreen University.

In the first quarter of the year, we launched employeescreen University and redesigned our blog.  We have used these communication vehicles (and sometimes soap box) to bring our readers up to speed on all things background screening.  We have also been able to bring important HR and Security issues to the forefront and could not be more pleased with the results.  Evidently, a few people have been paying attention as our following continues to grow.  In fact, earlier this month we received an iNova Award for Excellence in Corporate Websites!  We hope to continue this trend by adding many more exciting features to employeescreen University in the coming year.

In June, we launched the employeescreenIQ podcast series, This Week in Backgrounds Checks (TWIB).  This series brought us some exciting podcast interviews from various trade shows and our “weekly” (ok sometimes) show.  Through this medium we discussed issues such as Social Networking, Diploma Mills, FTC Red Flag Guidelines, and our 2009 Background Screening Trends. We also released our study “Facts About Education Falsification“, in addition to our new white paper “Known Diploma Mills Resource Guide“.

Towards the the end of the Summer and beginning of Fall we announced a few Applicant Tracking System (ATS) partnerships including iCIMS and MyStaffingPro.com. Both of these strategic alliances can aid our clientele in the quest to expedite the on-boarding process while saving both time and money.

Unfortunately, the story of the year is the economy.  2008 will be known as the year the economy went south.  The year started out strong for most, however there were signs of an upcoming disaster.  Economists argued about when a recession is actually a recession and pundits debated how hard we would be hit. We wrote often this year about the importance of performing background checks in a declining economy.   After the finger pointing ends (its still going on) and the dust settles, we will look back with relief that we are out of the worst economic times of our generation.  We can only hope this happens early in 2009!

The most viewed and debated post on our blog this year by far was the Chef Robert Irvine Story.  Food Network fired Chef Robert Irvine for lying on his resume.  We have received countless comments and commentary on this ‘controversial’ story.  We look for this debate to continue.

That’s all folks!  Thank you for your interest in this blog and for your feedback in 2008.  It has been an interesting year to say the least and we look forward to developing more thoughtful and informative content in the coming year.  As always, if you have questions or comments, send them to: podcasts@employeescreen.com

Listen to our TWIB wrap up show below:

Have a happy and healthy new year. See you in 2009!

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Check out our podcast of This Week in Background Checks from the Week of November 3rd.  Topics discussed include:

• Recap of the ERE Conference
• Governor of Ohio’s Background Check on “Joe The Plumber”
• Affects of the Presidential Election on Background
• FTC Red Flags Guidelines
• Fake Claims of Military Honors

Enjoy!  Have a great weekend.

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Happy Friday!  I’ll dispose of our normal intro to this segment and jump right into this week’s TWIB Notes (This Week in Background Checks).  Here’s what you missed:

• White Paper: employeescreenIQ’s Guide to Identifying Diploma Mills and Other Fake Academic Credentials- This free white paper is a must for employers who want to reduce the opportunity of hiring those with fake degrees.
• Nevada Agency Releases Flawed Background Checks- Evidently the state was using the wrong criteria for making hiring decisions and denied employment to many who should have qualified.  To make matters worse, they never notified applicants’ as to why they were denied employment
• Proposed Legislation in Pennsylvania Could Lead to More Expunged Records
• International Recruiting- American nurses are in short supply!  Should overseas candidate’s be screened?
• employeescreenIQ Named to Fastest Growing Company List for 4th Consecutive Year- Just living the dream!

That’s all we’ve got.  See you next week.  For those masochists out there, check out our podcast of this week’s TWIB Notes below.

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Time again for our TWIB Notes (This Week in Backgrounds).   If you hadn’t had time to check our blog or employeescreen University, here’s what you’ve missed.

A few blog stories we wanted to highlight this week:

City of Tallahassee Ending Background Checks.  They site the fact that of the 714 checks that they’ve performed on those seeking promotions, only one check has caused them to deny a promotion.

A Pittsburgh newspaper reports sports officials have criminal records. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette launched a 9-month investigation into the backgrounds of registered Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletics Association (PIAA) referees and can you guess what they found?  They discovered ”dozens of officials had convictions involving child pornography, molestation charges, drug offenses and assaults, among other offenses.”

Hurricane Ike. As you know, the city of Houston, TX and surrounding areas suffered heavy damages caused by Hurricane Ike.  Currently (at the time of this post) 93% of those in Harris County (Houston) are without power.  Neighboring counties of Brazoria, Montgomery and Fort Bend are also largely without power.  And of course, many people are returning to severely damaged homes.

Blog Rumble. We have been pretty vocal about our opposition to the use of Social Networking Sites for employment screening purposes and have not heard many counter arguments from respected voices. Until Now.

We also posted a new guest article on employeesceen Univeristy.  Attorney Seth Brisking writes about Complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

You can also download a podcast of This Week in Backgrounds (TWIB Notes) on our iTunes Channel or by listening below:

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Time again for our TWIB Notes.  We skipped last week, due to the Labor Day weekend, so we’ve put highlights from the last two weeks together for this installment.  If you hadn’t had time to check our blog or employeescreen University, here’s what you’ve missed.

Legislative Updates:

California Senate Bill 2918- This bill which looks like it will be passed shortly will significantly restrict an employer’s ability to conduct pre-employment credit checks on job applicants.

New York Amendment to General Business Law and Labor Law- This amendment which will take affect February 5, 2009 mandates that employers give all applicants’ with criminal records a copy of Article 23A-Section 753.  They also must post a copy of this article in a visually conspicuous area.

Guest Article:

Third Party Site Inspection Requirements- Global Compliance’s Michael Korvink explains why the credit bureaus mandate a site inspection before background screening services can be conducted and how the process works.

Other Items:

Court Delays- Hurricane Gustav and now Hurricane Ike have caused and will continue to cause courthouses along the Gulf Coast to close.  This means that criminal background checks in these counties are delayed.  Stay up to date with all court closure by clicking on the link above.

CareerBuilder Survey Finds 1 in 5 Employers Using Social Networking Sites as part of A Background Check- Okay, fine.  Our reaction is predictable.  But this post might surprise you.

employeescreenIQ Fall Conferences Update

Chad Johnson Changes His Name to Ocho Cinco- What can we learn about background checks from this?

That’s all I’ve got.  Have a nice weekend!  BTW, if you liked the written form of this week’s TWIB Notes, you’ll love the podcast.  Check it out below.

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